Nailing Gelatin Keynote

Nailing Gelatin to the Wall or How to Gather Business Requirements

The definition of “crazy.” Doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting a different result.

The business requirements gathering/scope definitions phase is the litmus test for a project’s success. If you don’t get the right information at the right time, you’ll experience cost overruns, poor quality, and dissatisfied customers. The project will be a failure.

For over thirty years, the statistics have been virtually unchanged. More than 50% of ERP implementations have “failed.” (An internet search engine identified about 8 million results for “ERP failures” and even 114,000 results for “HRIS failures.”) Just as the failure rates have been unchanged, the solutions have also been unchanged. Let’s spend millions of dollars to implement the “latest and greatest” methodology.

The methodologies included everything from high-priced consulting firm’s “proprietary” methodologies to the SOP (seat of pants) non-methodology. Despite this investment, over half of ERP and other IT projects were unsuccessful.

Major non-IT projects are more successful because their business requirements are well-defined before the development phase begins. Unfortunately, gathering business requirements is like nailing gelatin to the wall. It’s possible with the right skill set. This presentation may help any methodology become more successful.

During this presentation, we’ll examine the underlying requirements gathering problems, their causes, and some real (cheap) solutions towards improving this process.